Aerial-railway transit



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. L. HIGH T. AERIAL RAILWAY TRANSIT.

No. 433,941. Patented Aug. 12, 1890.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. W. L. EIGHT.

, AERIAL RAILWAY TRANSIT. No. 433,941. Q Patented Aug. 12, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

\VALLAOE L. HIGHT, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

AERIAL-RAILWAY TRANSIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,941, dated August12, 1890.

Application filed August 20, 1889. Serial No. 321,395. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, XVALLACE L. HIGHT, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improved Aerial-Railway Transit, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

This invention, in substance, consists of a railway of any suitableconstruction suitably supported, a car or carriage of suitableconstruction to receive and carry passengers or freight, or both, meansheld on the car and adapted and suitable to impart sufficient buoyancyto it to support it in the air, means for connecting and confining thecar to and otherwise such as to allow it to move along the railway incombination with an electric or other suitable motor, preferably anelectric motor, which is held on and is adapted to travel along therailway, and, furthermore, is connected to the car so as from itsoperation to propel the car with its contents supported, as stated, inthe air, along and in either one or the other direction of the railwayand all otherwise, substantially as hereinafter described.

In addition to the above the invention consists in improvements indetail, all as hereinway and showing a section only thereof. Fig.

4 is a transverse vertical section, line 4 4, Fig. 3, and an end view ofthe car, motor, and connection of car and motor. Fig. 5 is an enlargeddetail transverse vertical section of one of the rails of thedouble-rail railway of Figs. 3 and 4. Fig.6 is an enlarged detailtransverse vertical section of the rail of the single railway, Figs. 1and 2. Fig. 7 is a detail view, hereinafter referred to.

In the drawings, A represents an elevated railway, and B is a structurelocated at intermediate points and of any suitable construction for thesupport of the railway A, and all of itself, except as hereinafterappears, constituting no part of this invention, and which may be in anyof the well-known or other forms and constructions suitable for thepurposes, as hereinafter explained,of the invention. I v

The elevated railway A, Figs. 1 and 2,-consists of a single rail havingon its opposite sides a a, Fig. 6, and at top I) and bottom (1horizontal parallel flanges f, together constituting upper and lowerfaces for the run of an electric or other motorB, of any well-known orother suitable construction and arrangement of parts to secure its ownpropulsion, as

also the propulsion of whatever may be con-' nected to it therealong.The motor B is shown in blank, and, preferably, for reasons which willbe obvious, an electric motor is used; but the invention is not to belimited in that regard. The parts of the motor running on the rail A, asexplained and as particularly shown, are traction-wheels g, held on andat opposite ends of the motor, and lying between the under face of theupper and the upper face of the lower flanges of the rail,

and otherwise the motor at B. Fig. 2, lies across or straddles the upperside of the rail.

C is a car, in the present instance illustrated as consisting, insubstance, of a car-bodyhav ing windows O doors O and a promenade Oentirely surrounding it, with a guard-railing 0 gateways G withdetachable guardchains O for convenience of entering onto and passingfrom the promenade-platform into or from the car. This car 0 issurmounted end to end with an inclosed chamber O of any suitableconstruction and material, and which is to be charged with hydrogen gasor other aeriform fluid specifically lighter than air, and otherwise allsuch and as well known as to secure the support of the car auditsappurtenances and applied weight in the air. The inclosed chamber 0 forcontaining aeriform fluid, as has been explained and for the purposestated, is to be provided with means (not shown) for it to be suitablycharged with and discharged of the fluid; and, again, as particularlyshown, its opposite ends 0 0 are of conical shape, so as to reduce tothe minimum its resistance to the passage of the car, as willhereinafter appear, through the air. The car itself, at its oppositeends, may also be similarly shaped.

D D are chains or other lines at one end suitably held on the car 0 andat the other end held on trucks D straddling the top of the rail A andat each side having wheels D to run on the faces of the upper and lowerflanges of the rail A, as has been described for the motor.

E E are chains or other flexible lines, each at its opposite ends heldon the car 0 and on a motor B, a motor being located at the oppositeends of the car.

F are rigid bars or rods in a corresponding line and connecting themotors, and the intervening trucks D having wheels D as has beendescribed.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the railwayAis shown as consistin g of two parallelrunning rails A A with a suitable superstructure B to support them.These rails incline upward toward each other, and each has on its outerface and at its upper and lower edge parallel projecting flanges ff,Fig. 5, as before described, for the single rail A and constituting therunning-faces for the traction-wheels g of the motors and the wheels Dseverally connected to the car, as has been particularly explained, forthe similar wheels of Figs. 1 and 2. If electric n10- tors are used,then electric connection between them and either an electric generatoror a storage-battery is to be made, as is well known, or otherwisesuitably, and neither said electric connection nor the electricgenerator or electric storage-battery constitutes of itself or togetherany part of this invention, it being simply necessary for the purposesthereof that it shall be all such, as is well known now in the electricsystems of railways, that the motor and the parts, such as the car andits aeriform containing-chamber, and all other appurtenances, shall byits action be propelled along the railway, and also regulated andcontrolled as to the speed or rate of movement, starting and stopping,and the direction of its travel relative to the length of the railwayand otherwise, as is apparent.

A railway and a car supported in the air and connected to the railway,in combination with a motor running on the railway and connectedtothecar, all substantially as explained, obviously secure in the highestdegree aerial transit of passengers and freight, and in a manneraifording absolute safety and rapidity of movement, accompanied .with aminimum expenditure of power and of weight and friction of the parts onthe railway.

The railway in either form described, or in whatever form it may beused, in lieu of being elevated, as particularly shown, may restdirectly on the ground.

The flexible connection between the car and wheel trucks and motors, ashas been explained, leaves the car perfectly free in its aeriformsupport, as stated.

The gas-chamber C may have, as in Figs. 1 and 2,a central longitudinalextending flap 0 along its upper side to impartsteadiness to itsmovement-through the air.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is

1. In combination, a railway, a motor held on and itself adapted forpropulsion along and on said railway, a car located over and adapted tobe supported in the air above and otherwise independently of said motor,and means connecting said car and said motor for both to travel as onealong said railway, sub stantially as described, for the purposesspecified.

2. In combination, a railWay,-motors held on and adapted for propulsionalong said railway and separated from each other, a wheel truck ortrucks located between said motors and held on and adapted to travelalong said railway, a car located over and adapted to be supportedindependently of said motors and said truck or trucks in the air, andmeans connecting said car with said motors and truck or trucks for allto travel as one along said railway, substantially as described, for thepurposes specified.

3. In combination, a railway, motors held on and adapted for propulsionalong said railway and separated from each other, a wheel truck ortrucks located between said motors and held on and adapted to travelalong said railway, means connecting said motors to said truck ortrucks, a car located over and adapted to be supported independently ofsaid motors and said truck or trucks in the air, and means connectingsaid car with said motors and truck or trucks for all to travel as onealong said railway, substantially as described, for the purposesspecified.

4. In combination, a railway, a motor held on and adapted for propulsionalong said railway, a car located over and adapted to be supportedindependently of said motor in the air, a vertical and centrallongitudinal extending fiap of said car, and means connecting said carand motor for both to travel as one along said railway, substantially asdescribed, for the purposes specified.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

\VALLACE L. HIGHT.

Witnesses:

ALBERT W. BROWN, MARION E. BROWN.

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